New Age: Complicated Times
by Alicia G
Summary: In the year 2377, the USS Voyager A and her crew dive deeper into the Gamma Quadrant. With the help of an unholy alliance, the Borg threaten to destroy the whole galaxy. One way or another, the galaxy will become one... set in alternate universe
1. Prologue

As a legendary ship and her crew struggle to get back home in the year 2377, another ship of the same name dives deeper into the Gamma Quadrant. Both ships serve the United Confederation of Planets and the allies they have formed, and as always, the Borg threaten to destroy both ships along with the entire galaxy. With the help of a new ally they just might do it.

When the Borg subjugate with the help of an unholy alliance, a new and advanced race emerges from the Gamma Quadrant. They have the same goal as the Borg, but different means. While the two advanced races tear at each other, a coalition must be formed for the fate of the galaxy. The galaxy will become one, one way or the other...


	2. Chapter One

Katriana Heller looked over at the chronometer. The Beta shift had just ended and the Delta shift had just begun. She had been so engrossed in the reports, that she had lost track of time. Walking out of her reading room into the bridge, she noticed that Lieutenant Commander David Micah, or XO, was preparing to take over for the night. He looked over in her direction.

"'Night, Captain," he said with his southern accent.

"Morning to you, XO. Take care of her."

"'Course ma'am," he said, patting the railing and then sitting in her command chair.

She walked into the turbolift and told the computer the location of her quarters, deck six. Walking into her quarters she thought she had heard a voice, but no one was around – not even in the corridor. She figured her imagination was getting the better of her. Taking off her jacket, she threw it over a lounge chair. Then she took her curly, shoulder length blonde hair out of the ponytail it wanted to escape from.

"Chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup," she said to the replicator, and it obeyed. Placing the warm plate on the table, she sat down and took a bite. Never have tried the replicator's version of her favorite meal in the three months she had been in the Gamma Quadrant. She found it disgusting. She shoved the plate back into the replicator for it to recycle.  
Sitting down in the lounge chair, she picked up her Aunt Corenthia's copy of Jane Eyre. Lost in reading, she suddenly heard a thump. Unnerved, she stood up and looked around. Everything was in place.  
_  
Gods, I'm too stressed. Now I'm hearing things too. Maybe some time in the holodeck will help,_ she said to herself, heading towards the door.

She suddenly stopped and whirled around. A very tall man was now heading right towards her. As a reflex, she brought her hand up to hit her comm badge, but he drew his sword and knocked it to the floor. He then brought it up so it was a millimeter away from the tip of her nose.

The crystalline blade glistened in the light and reflected in his gray eyes. "If you move, I'll kill you." She stood perfectly still, too stunned to say anything.

"I'm Damion Hunter, of the Mobean Republic Space Force. You're Commander Katriana, correct" He lowered the sword, but kept it ready beside him.

"Actually it's _Captain_" she said, finding her voice. "But it's a pleasure to meet you," she added, looking at the sword. The sword was almost as tall as her, and she was five foot ten.

"Hmm, same thing." He whipped his sword around slid it into the scabbard that was on his back. "This was supposed to be a stealth recon mission, you'd better not tell anyone about me."

"I won't if you answer a question."

"Er... what"

"What's your mission here"

He folded his arms across his chest. "To observe the human ship and its capabilities and to gather all data on the so called Starfleet. This ship is a better choice for study than the one in the Delta Quadrant."

"I would think the _Voyager_ in the Delta Quadrant would be more interesting than this one."

"No one around here much likes that ship, besides this one has continuous contact with Starfleet."

"That changed when the MIDAS array was made. Now they get communications from Starfleet every couple of months." She bent down to pick up the mess that had been her comm. badge.

"I know people who would much rather destroy the cruiser. What is that anyway" He pointed at the remains of the comm badge.

"It was my comm badge. Good thing you completely destroyed it or else it would've alerted the ship," she replied, placing it in the replicator, then watching as it recycled.

Damion raised an eyebrow. "What does it do? Some kind of tracking device, or is it a rank badge"

"It can be used as a tracking device, but it's mainly used as a communicator." She turned her attention to the console that controlled the replicator.

"Hmm, I used to have something like that as a kid."

"Really..." she said not turning around. In the replicator an identical comm badge appeared. She then pressed some buttons to erase the log of the last two entries and enter false entries to take their place. No one would ever know.

A holoscreen appeared in front of Damion's right eye. "Tigercat, time to go home." It was Damion's wing mate. "Right, I'll be along in a minute."

"You don't have to worry about me telling Starfleet or my crew about you or your mission" Katriana said, pinning her comm badge back to her shirt. She glanced up at him., wondering if she should tell someone. After all, he had threatened to kill her. Then again, he probably would kill her if she told and if he was advanced and as strong as he appeared to be it would be better to be on his good side rather than his bad. He didn't really look all to friendly either.

Damion lifted his rifle to his side. "See to it." He hit his personal transporter and was gone.

Seconds after he had dissapeared, red lights started flashing and klaxons went off. "Captain to the bridge" came the southern voice of XO.


	3. Chapter Two

Damion powered up the systems on his R-type fighter. He looked to a display at his side. It confirmed the formation of a transwarp conduit. "The Borg. If she gets killed... it's her fault." He sealed his helmet and pulled away from _Voyager_. He accelerated to warp still under cloak. The single person craft topped warp nine in a second and continued to accelerate. The proximity sensors registered something following him. A Borg Sphere. "I must have pulled it from the human ship." A torpedo struck the right wing, and the ship's armor was completely unaffected.

"Let's see how well the backfire capability works at warp." With only a mental command the battle systems activated. A greenish field appeared over the hull for only a split second. When the Sphere fired several more shots Damion retaliated. A single torpedo was fired from the bottom of the ship, and the Sphere was destroyed on contact.

Damion set the hyperdrive systems and the leading edges of the fighter glowed red as space itself was torn open. Within minutes the fighter emerged in the presence of Mobius Battle Station. The massive station dwarfed the hundreds of ships circling it.

Damion opened the station's military traffic channel. "Mobius Station, this is Tigercat leader requesting vector for landing and docking." Damion waited for several minutes.

"Tigercat, the traffic ways are congested, please form in military flight pattern until something opens."

"Hrmm, how long?"

"Maybe twenty minutes, we have more than a thousand landing craft coming in from Anthules colony."

"What happened there?"

"The Borg."

"I see. Alright." The autopilot kept the craft in formation for well over an hour. Damion had almost fallen asleep in the cockpit before he was finally cleared.

"Tigercat, approach vector 346/879, landing strip 89."

Damion yawned and stretched out. "About time." Damion set the autopilot with the correct data. It was fully capable of landing and docking itself. Once that was complete, Damion shut down the fighter's systems. Sure that the fighter was locked down, he grabbed his sword and jump from the cockpit. Landing fifteen meters below, he looked down the rows of fighters stationed there. Eighty thousand fighters, and his was unique. It was a prototype of a new line of combat fighter built to fight the Borg.

Damion stepped into the translift. "Deck 123450." The station had more than 320,000 decks. Damion leaned back against the wall. He was very tall, eight and a half feet. Being very muscular, he was built for combat. His hair was braided down to his waist. The white flight suit he wore conformed to his body, and his Space Force insignia was pinned to the front. A deep scar ran from his left eyebrow to the right side of his nose.

After about ten minutes the lift stopped. He looked to the deck number; it wasn't his. The lift opened and Lisa was standing there. Holographic displays occupied all points of her vision. She was going through massive numbers of reports and schematics simultaneously. Looking up she saw Damion and smiled. Lisa was almost a full foot shorter than Damion, something common to Mobeans. She had deep gray eyes, also a common feature. Being thin, her white uniform conformed to her well-defined muscles. Although well built, she was relatively weak for a Mobean. Lisa was the lead engineer and an advanced weapons developer.

"Hi Damion, how are you? Your mission go well? Deck 236000."

Damion just sighed deeply.

"You're not in a good mood are you... well, I guess you never are."

"Your new cloaking device is screwed up."

"Really? What do you mean?"

"The cloak gave out on the human ship."

"Oh, that's not right. I hope no one saw you." Damion grunted.

"Well give me the PMOS and I'll see what's wrong with it." Damion unclipped the computer from his wrist and gave it to her.  
"Hmm, it should be perfect."

"It should be, shouldn't it?"

"Um... well... grrr."

"I hope the R-type actually works, once it gets produced."

"Oh about that, I've given the authorization for the R-1 to go into full production immediately."

"Are you serious? Already?"

"Uh-huh. The production lines are being reconfigured now. In two hours they'll start producing R-1s full scale. We already finished one, it's yours."

"What about the prototype?"

"Going to be scraped for materials. I'm also working on building a new assault rifle."

"It isn't going to blow up is it?"

"Not you... I hope."

"Great."

"I would never do anything to try and harm you, Damion." She folded her hands behind her back and smiled girlishly. Damion groaned loudly. She tilted her head and her smile widened.

"What? Something bothering you?"

"Yes. Why won't you just LEAVE ME ALONE!" Damion had gone into a combat stance, and Lisa fell back against the wall. She was frightened deeply. Damion had never raised his voice to her before.

"I... I'm... sorry, but Damion I..."

"Just stop there." The lift stopped and the doors opened. "I don't want anything to happen to you, too many people die because of me." Damion walked down the hall. Lisa stood back against the wall and watched Damion walk away.  
Damion entered his quarters, which were fairly basic. He set his sword's scabbard on his table, then took his flight suit off. Stepping into the bathroom, he ran cold water over his face.

"Why won't Lisa leave me alone?" he muttered to himself, pulling his shirt and boots off. Damion stepped into his bedroom. He sat down on his bed and pulled his ponytail out. For a moment, he sat there thinking about Lisa. He lay down and closed his eyes. After a long while, he fell asleep.

Damion woke up the next morning and took his shower. He ate and checked the station news report. The only major event was that Anthules Colony was completely destroyed by the Borg. He put on his flight suit and grabbed the sword. As he left he thought he had forgotten something. Then he saw his wife's pendant on the table. Focusing on the pendent, it flew to his hand. He put it around his neck and left the room. Damion entered the fighter bay and found Lisa waiting for him.

"Here's the PMOS, it should work correctly now."

"It better." He started to walk away.

"Damion?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday."

Damion walked to his fighter. The production model wasn't much different than the prototype. He powered up the systems and left the station. Then, he set the hyperdrive for _Voyager_'s location.


	4. Chapter Three

Katriana was awakened by the beeping of her combadge. She sat up and ran her fingers through her thick blonde hair that was cut a little past her shoulders. Reaching over to her nightstand, she tapped the comm badge to activate it.

"Heller here."

"Captain, we have reached the debris field," Enar reported. "And captain, there's still a ship out there."

"Borg?" Katriana was now getting up and putting on her uniform.

"No, we haven't encountered this species yet," Enar said sounding almost nervous.

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute." Not bothering to do anything with her hair, she walked out of her quarters.

"Have you tried hailing them?"

"Yes, but they aren't answering." XO paused then added, "They may not be able to."

"Understood." Katriana walked into the turbolift. "Bridge." In moments the doors opened.

"Report."

"The alien ship appears to be heavily damaged," Hornblower replied. "The energy signatures suggest the Borg, and there's also Borg debris."

"Looks like the Borg are bullying others too," Enar said.

"Captain, the ship is powering up some kind of weapon!" Hornblower shouted.

"Shields up! On screen!" Katriana ordered, moving to sit in her chair. On the screen giant green beams of energy literally scraped past the ships shields.

"Talk about a shot across our bow… shields down to ninety percent."

"Captain, we're getting a transmission from the ship," Sarah said calmly from Ops.

"Put it on."

"Attention human star… leave this area immediately… I may know what you are… the recovery ship most likely won't… tolerate raiders and pirates, so be warned."

"Let's take their advice and get out of here. Shakir, open a transwarp gate and get us out of here."

"Aye, Captain."

"Number One, you have the bridge." Katriana entered the turbolift and went back to her quarters. So far over the last forty-eight hours she had only gotten 4 hours of sleep, and right then she wasn't in too good a mood.

In her quarters she lit several meditative candles and knelt before them. Clearing her mind she recalled the dream she was having before she had been interrupted. Slowly she fell into a trance.

_Lights. Red lights flashing and loud sirens blaring. People were running trying to escape what would soon be an exploding ship._

"_Imma, please! I don't want to leave you!" a child cried clinging to a woman that was placing a toddler into an escape pod._

"_I can't go with you, Katriana. You should know that." The woman kissed her on the forehead, pulled a locket off from around her neck and placed it in Katriana's hand. "Take this, darling."_

"_No Imma! Please!" Further down the corridor, phaser fire was being exchanged. The Cardassians were getting closer. _

"_Katriana hurry there isn't much time!" the woman was then almost carrying the thirteen year old Katriana into the escape pod._

"_Imma, behind you!" Katriana shouted, but it was too late. The woman that was Marie Heller, fell to the floor dead with a phaser wound in her back. The door to the pod closed, but after Katriana saw the face of her mother's murderer. "TRAITOR!" she screamed._

Katriana came out of her trance in a cold sweat, and almost broke down into tears. She took several deep breaths and her mind and body calmed. There was more to her dream.

_The pod was moving quickly and the ship came into view. The_ USS Atlas NCC-1872_ was surrounded by several Cardassian attack cruisers. Then in a flash, the scene changed. It was no longer the Atlas, but the_ USS Voyager NX-74656A_. A giant Borg cube and several spheres and cubes surrounded her. _Voyager_ was badly damaged and by the looks of it she was about ready to explode._

Something changed around Katriana and she came out of her trance.

"AH! Dammit! She was supposed to have fixed this!" Damion said, appearing three feet away from her. He was tapping his personal cloaking device.

"Having troubles again, Damion?" She leaned forward to blow out the candles.

"Humph."

Katriana's comm badge beeped. She sighed in annoyance.

"What is that?" Damion asked.

Ignoring him Katriana tapped the comm badge. "Heller here."

"Captain, we're receiving a transmission from Starfleet," XO said over the COMM.

"Route it to my quarters, please." She moved to her console and turned it on. The UCP logo showed up on the screen.

"I guess you'll be listening in." she said turning her attention back to Damion. He was leaning against a bulkhead on the other side of the room.

"Humph." A man then appeared on the screen. His skin was tan and stood out against his jet black hair. Katriana guessed he had been out in the sun.

"Hello _Captain_," he said with a sly smile. "Glad you could fit me into your busy schedule."

"It was no trouble _Admiral_," she said with a smile of her own. "What can I do for you? After all I'm a very busy woman."

"I bet... Well Kat, I'm glad you're sitting."

"Oh no, Ben! What did you do now?"

"Actually I didn't do anything. It's what I have to tell you."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"_Voyager_ is being called back," he winced preparing for her to start yelling. Her jaw just dropped.

"Benjamin Michael Paris, you can't be serious."

"Au contraire Katriana Jenera Heller, I am. And please don't use my middle name, it's reserved for when my parents are mad at me."

"Which is often... Ben, why are we being called back? We still have three more months out here."

"We received information that the Borg may take advantage of our weakened state to attack us. We need all the ships on our home turf just in case," he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. "By the way I'm surprised you've been able to keep her this long."

"I don't let go easily. Ben, I need to ask a favor of you," she said changing the subject

"Yes?"

"I need you to send a message to Aunt Corey. Tell her to relay it to the Joined Council on Betazed."

"Fine, but I thought you were going to do that _before_ you left."

"I was, but..." she stopped.

"But? Don't tell me you forgot!"

"No, I didn't forget. I was going to wait till I got back, but since it's going to be sooner than I planned I'd rather tell them the proposal from a distance. Besides, David Shorne is still on the council and most of the council is on his side." She began preparing the proposal to send.

"Wouldn't he be more on your side since he is, after all, betrothed to Sarah?"

"Unfortunately, no. David is a very angry, young man. Especially when it has to do with me. He'll do anything possible to make my life miserable." She looked at one of the many pictures on her desk. This was the last picture Devin Shorne had been in, a picture from her ninth birthday. "I'm sending it now," she moved her fingers over the console.

"Got it," he frowned. "But I can't read it."

"I know you can't. It's in Betalic. You're not supposed to,"

"I'm hurt," his face expressed mocked hurt. "After all the years we've known each other you still don't trust me."

"Oh come of it! There's no need for you to read it. You already know what it's about."

"I do?"

She threw her hands up in exasperation, "Yes you do! It's about your proposal!"

"Touchy, touchy! I was just joking! You need to lighten up! What did you do- pull an all nighter?"

"Ben, you're incorrigible," she stated in monotone.

"I know. Anyways back to why I called." He cleared his throat and looked at a PADD.

"You're to report to me on... DS9 ASAP."

"As soon as planned?" she asked.

"No. Now look who's being incorrigible. Here I am trying to be serious and you're cracking jokes!"

"Ben Paris trying to be serious! The same Ben Paris that made Ammonium Iodide and practically blew up the lab at the Academy. The same Ben Paris that put underwear up a flag pole. Oh my gods I think the universe is coming to an end!" she said trying to hold back her laughter.

"Ha ha, very funny. And I as recall you were my lab partner and you were oh so kind to tell me how to make it."

"I didn't think you would be stupid enough to actually make it."

"You got to admit the look on the professor's face was humorous."

"True." She set her hands on the desk in front of her. "I'll tell Enar to set a course. We'll be there as soon as can."

"Alright," he leaned forward and looked at Katriana for a moment. "Kat, is there something you want to tell me?"

Katriana was suddenly all too aware of Damion leaning against the bulkhead. She rubbed her temples, "Yes, but it can wait till I see you... in person."

"Umm... ok. See you then, Kat. Take care of yourself. Paris out." The screen clicked off to show the UCP logo. Looking up she saw Damion staring at her.

"What?"

"Interesting."

"Humph.' Katriana tapped her comm badge. "Heller to bridge."

"Bridge here."

"Set a course to the wormhole, Number One. We have orders to come home."

"Aye Captain."

Katriana fell back in her chair.

"You're not happy about going back, I take it."

"Not really, there are people and duties back home I'd rather not deal with right now."

"Hmm, there are always things you don't want to deal with, but have to."

"True, but I was hoping to have a solution for them before then."

"If there's one thing Lisa has taught me, it's that you never have a solution when you need it."

Damion glanced at the cloaking device. "At least this one didn't blow up."

"Really… if her things have been known to explode why do you use them?"

"Lisa is the most intelligent Mobean alive. She just tends to be absent minded... and overly affectionate." Damion whispered the last part, but Katriana heard it non the less.

"Overly affectionate? Sounds like you got a female admirer, Damion."

"Whatever."

The chime to the door rang. Katriana looked at where Damion was to suggest he cloak again, but he was gone. "Yes?"

"Hey, Kat. You busy?" Sarah said, walking fully into Katriana's quarters.

"Not right now. Why?" Katriana turned off the console.

"I wanted to show you something. Oh, don't look at me like that. I think you'll like it."

"Fine, lead the way." Katriana stood up and followed Sarah into the corridor, and then into the turbolift. "Where are we going anyways?" she asked after Sarah had manually entered their destination.

"It's a surprise." Sarah rocked back on her heels excitedly. "I thought I told you not to look at my like that!"

"And what looks is that?" Katriana asked, continuing her glare at her mischievous little sister.

"That 'Oh-gods-what-are-you-planning' look. It's nothing bad. I swear!" The turbolift doors opened. Katriana then knew that Sarah was taking her to the holodeck.

"Computer, activate holoprogram Sarah12." The doors opened to show the beautiful lake that Katriana had spent most of her teen years by. The lake was by their Aunt Corenthia's vineyard on Earth.  
"Hope you remember your way around the tunnels." Sarah was walking over to the shack stationed near the lake's edge.

"I do... Did you do all this from memory?"

"That and the pictures you drew," she looked up, holding equipment.

"You did some good programming." A smile split Sarah's face while she handed Katriana a diving suit. "But I haven't seen the tunnels yet."

They were both in their diving suites in no time and were checking over their gills. Their feet were dangling over the edge of the pier.

"Is something wrong, Kat? If you're not careful that frown will make you age faster."  
"You know that I got a transmission from Ben." Sarah nodded. "Well we've been called back to DS9."

"What! So soon!"

"They have reason to believe that the Borg are planning to attack the earth."

"Really? You don't think that the information was provided by Gamma do you?"

"Maybe... who knows. I doubt they would give up their advantage."

"True." Sarah held up the gill to get a closer look at it. "I'm ready to go. How about you?"

"Ready. Let's go." Together they jumped into the blue-green water and disappeared into the depths.


End file.
